Power out

Laytonville to Redcrest is out. Latest estimate for restoration is 11 to 1 tomorrow.

My 2-year-old wanted to watch the Wiggles last night. We tried to explain that there was no electricity and that’s why the lights were out. Her response was to grab a flashlight, turn it on and say “flashlight work!”

Good point really.

We don’t have a generator. Redway was buzzing with them last night, all through the night. Annoying. I would support an ordinance that required that they be encased in some kind of sound barrier.

I may not post again until tomorrow night.

Update: Unbeknownst to me as I was typing the post from the Red Lion Hotel in Eureka (we’re waiting on a jury in a fairly large case) the power in Redway had been on for about 20 minutes. As I was driving home this evening the power remained out from Weott to Phillipsville. The lights were on at the Hooker Creek Road exit.

16 comments

If you get one, do what the Army does with the smaller generators, Eric. Well, at least under tactical conditions.

To both muffle the noise and protect against enemy fire, they put sandbags all around the generator, put a wood roof with sandbags over the top as well. Of course, they leave holes for air intake and exhaust.

I always figured if I could ever buy a generator that’s what I would do. Something along that line, anyway.

Eric, I finally bought a little Honda 2000 from Dazey’s a couple of years ago, during a gnarly storm, and power outage. It’s small and light; sort of looks like an old iMac (handle included!) While it’s not enough to run the fridge and other appliances, it does allow you to have a few lights on, boot up your PC to check your email, etc… and power the TV and DVD to let your kid watch The Wiggles.🙂

The house I live in has a Rinnai propane heater, which is touted as very energy efficient. It runs on propane. Trouble is, it has electronics and a thermostat which don’t work, without power. Hail to the Honda 2000.

I went to town today, and saw that once again, most businesses were closed. Some were closed because they had no power. Others were closed because the employees were “snowed in”.

In Gville, I stopped to talk to Bear at the Bootleg. He always uses a generator to out-wit power outages. I suggested to Bear that he call KMUD, to let them know he was open. He said he had already done that, and people had come in to buy gear they needed to beat the cold war. I also learned that D’Amato’s in Redway was open, because their pizza oven is gas, not electric. I went there next, to order a vegie combo pizza, to take home. Then I went to ShopSmart (the only grocer who does business during power outages) to stroll through the aisles, to stock up on important stuff…. like some evaporated canned milk, to put in my coffee tomorrow morning… and some cans of organic soup, to heat up and eat, just in case the pizza from Santo’s didn’t fill us up.

In ShopSmart (aka Murrish’s) it was romantic, and festive. The generator was giving off only the most basic ambient light. The parking lot was loaded, since no other grocer was open. Inside, you saw all your friends, and shared jokes about the latest storm and power outage. My friend Julia was puzzling over what to buy for dinner, since her house is “all electric”… I gave her the tip that D’Amato’s was open, and she decided, hands down, to just buy a pizza, and hope the power is back tomorrow.

After all of that, we came home, with our medium vegi-combo, and while eating our second helping, suddenly the power came back.

My Honda 2000 is in the wings, just in case. Eric, I recommend you purchase a SMALL and QUIET genny, just to keep the basics going for you and yours. The person who spoke of sandbags probably has good advice, if you live in a ‘hood with close neighbors.

My little Honda genny is very quiet, and sucks VERY little gas. It also has dual settings, depending on what your usage is.

I don’t think it’s worth the money personally, nor the hassle. A couple of nights without power is fine. We don’t watch much TV. Tonight we watched the last half of the When the Levees Broke documentary. Going without power for a couple of days just doesn’t seem like a major problem.

But alas, maybe I’ll have to cave in and make the purchase so my blog fans don’t suffer the deprivation.

On the subject of generators. We, Branscomb Center, bought a generator to keep the store open after being roundly chewed out by a customer. It seems that during a power failure she was without a radio and could not listen to KMUD. Well, that put our priorities in order!

Now, we are always open during power failures. We stack hand crank radios, wire type telephones, batteries, and disposable Cell phones on the counter. Almost everyone that comes in says “Thank God for KMUD.”

I get the feeling that people think that, if they can’t get KMUD on the radio they will surly die. After having lived through a few of the fires, floods and windstorms we’ve had lately, they might be right. KMUD always give us “folks” number-one priority!

Ernie, while your comment seems to plug KMUD I can’t seem to get it out of my head that the main reason for your post was to plug your business. Typical Republican. Always looking to get something for nothing.😉

However, the KMUD plug was from the heart. I understand that’s big with the liberal crowd.

Also Bear at the Boot leg was open. The Renner gas pumps were open, and I was VERY thankful for that because I had stupidly let myself run out of gas. Napa Auto parts was open. Which, I was also greatful for. I needed generator parts!

I know you think that we are open because we’re greedy, but I can assure you, WE would be better off closed! Other than Renner, which I expect came out all right.

I know! Now I sound like the freakin chamber of commerce! OH Well! Thanks for seeing the humor in it. I can Appreciate that.

Mr. JeansBesides, I’m a Democrat in philosophy; I just can’t find one that I trust! Other than Mike Thompson, who should be president. Other than that I usually vote Republican.

Why is it that, when the Dems get a decent candidate, they let him get laughed out of town. Howard Dean was a good man. He showed a little passion, and everyone wrote him off. By the way he was yelling over crowd noise that his mic didn’t pick up!

The Dems BIG problem is that they don’t get it together! Right now they think that they are really in the drivers seat, but just watch. I bet they even blow this lead! I don’t say that viciously, but pragmatically.

“I know you think that we are open because we’re greedy, but I can assure you, WE would be better off closed! Other than Renner, which I expect came out all right.”I DO NOT think you were open because you are greedy! I think you were open because you need to make a living. And smart enough to figure it out.I’ll argue politics when a political subject comes up. The comment I made was just an elbow to the ribs.